Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 - Planning and Deployment

This paper provides a feature-by-feature look at what's inside Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 for information technology professionals, including enhanced management functionality, increased file serving productivity, and native NAS device branch readiness.

This datasheet summarizes some of the key features and benefits available in Windows Storage Server 2003 R2.

In this paper is an introduction to network attached storage and a look at benefits of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, which can help reduce the total lifecycle cost of storage.

Storage area network (SAN) technology, once restricted to large organizations and mainframe environments, is becoming more common in mid-sized organizations that need to store and share access to large amounts of data. With the development of Internet SCSI (iSCSI) technologies, the benefits of SAN technologies are likely to extend even to small organizations.

Sharing data between UNIX® and Windows® systems can be cumbersome and costly in terms of end-user productivity, data reliability, and licensing fees. The Microsoft® Windows® Storage Server 2003 operating system offers new solutions to IT departments overrun by the complexity of integrating cross-platform data. This paper describes the file-sharing features of the operating system and the technology that enables UNIX client systems to access files stored on a Windows platform. It also explores several cost-saving strategies for managing the integrated data.

This whitepaper takes a look at a new consolidation strategy that combines data replication software and Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 based NAS devices - a solution offered by LEGATO Software and Microsoft. This strategy is a new paradigm for branch office data protection, offering improvements in how vital data is protected in remote locations while significantly reducing the cost to protect and manage those information assets.

Protecting critical data has become increasingly problematic for small and midsize businesses that experience rapid data growth but have limited resources. This paper provides six tips for helping businesses put in place practical and effective data protection and data recovery solutions. Using products like NSI® Software's Double-Take® on Microsoft® Windows Storage Server 2003, businesses now have a cost-effective and highly reliable means by which to gain the data protection solutions previously available only to enterprise organizations.

With the introduction of Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) in Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 and Windows® Storage Server 2003 and the strength of NSI Software® Double-Take® businesses now have the products to achieve the goals of reducing downtime, protecting critical assets, and reduce time spent on restoring and rebuilding files and servers.

Businesses and organizations of all sizes increasingly depend on computerized data systems for their operations. Ensuring that these systems, and their stored data, keep operating is a critical part of business planning.

Businesses of all sizes are seeking cost-effective storage management solutions that keep critical data protected and highly available. This white paper outlines the major storage challenges facing today's businesses, and shows how the integrated storage services in Windows Server™ 2003 and Windows Storage Server 2003 provide manageable, reliable, and cost effective solutions designed to meet those challenges.

September 2003: Get details on the new features of Windows Storage Server 2003 including point-in-time data copies, replication, and server clustering.

Businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on continuous access to stored data. As the number of mission-critical servers and storage resources grow, so does the importance of protecting against service interruptions, disasters, and other problems that may threaten the organization's ability to provide access to its key data when needed.

Windows Storage Server 2003 is the latest version of Windows Powered Network Attached Storage (NAS). Built on the Windows Server 2003 operating system, Windows Storage Server 2003 is a dedicated file and print server that offers dependable storage and integrates seamlessly with existing corporate networks. Easy to install and manage, Windows Storage Server 2003 helps lower the total cost of ownership. It makes possible file server consolidation and provides one of the best platforms for simplified file sharing, backup, and replication of essential business data.

This article shows you how to join Windows Storage Server 2003 to a Windows Small Business Server domain by using the Windows Storage Server Web user interface.

While Microsoft diligently strives to reduce vulnerabilities in its code, software patches and updates continue to be an ongoing and important part of an organization's system management and security strategy.

Booting from a storage area network (SAN), rather than from local disks on individual servers, can enable organizations to maximize consolidation of their IT resources, minimize their equipment costs, and realize the considerable management benefits of centralizing the boot process.

This white paper provides a fast recovery demonstration designed to enable system administrators to implement fast recovery solutions in their own Active Directory environments.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows Storage Server 2003 provide two new storage infrastructures—the Virtual Disk service (VDS) and Volume Shadow Copy service (VSS). These services allow the storage administrator to manage complex storage configurations more effectively, helping to realize the business goal of highly available data at lower cost.